Bats with Baby Faces: A SCENARIO FOR CARICATURES.

UK,12mo p/back,1st edn.[First UK p/back appearance. Originally published by same publisher,earlier in 1951,as an 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.tThis listing is No. 152 in the 2/- full length novel series.] VG.No owner inscrptn and no price-removal to front cover.Bright,clean,colour pictorial artwork by PAGRAM,illustrated front cover with red,white and pale green lettering to front,black lettered yellow spine,rear cover with white panel with black text story precis to yellow background and publisher's' TVB' logo centrally to lower edge. With negligible shelf-wear, bumping.creasing to edges and corners; rear top corner with a couple of diagonal corner creases and lightly affecting the last page in concomitant place, but no nicks, tears or splits present. Top edges more aged/toned than the fore-edges which are slightly brighter; contents tight and clean,no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,but pp85-88 with top corners with small tears and small loss to same and further along,pp97-104 inclusive also with top edge tears with varying but decreasing degrees of loss to untrimmed page edges - pages' opened amateurishly? UK,12mo p/back,1st edn, 5-192pp [paginated] includes a prologue, XXV (25) chapters; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages and insides of either card cover with publisher's b/w thumbnail cover artwork illustrated titles from the same 2/- series adverts,of the publisher. Richard Grahame arrives in Cairo on a secret mission without a passport or money.He takes a job with Raoul Bellevue,who has a hand in every racket from organised beggary to drig-smuggling. During the course of his quest,Grahame is entangled in a net through which are woven the threads of a strange love affair.
This story moves swiftly from Deir-ez-Zor,on the Turkish frontier, to Cairo,melting pot of race,tongue and dogma.
The author has drawn the vivid background for this book from his experiences as a secret agent for five years in the Middle East. WW2 thriller fiction.
Publishers with restricted and limited quantities for publishing,opted towards highly acidic and therefore cheaper paper,allowing for more books to be produced. Books made with this cheaper material tend to degrade faster,exhibiting several faults, blemishes, foxing/spotting etc.,and subsequently are uncommon and harder to find in a particularly fine condition.This example has survived exceptionally well, particularly and unusually,without the usual major discolouration and other imperfections usually encountered or expected in a paperback of this age and era.
The pulp novel genre which peaked in popularity in the 1950s - it's ingredients of hard-boiled detective,sultry blondes,women as sex-kittens,murdered husbands et al - and of course,the lurid cover art - had little of literary merit.A term used to describe trashy story magazines produced on cheap,rough paper and by the 1930s,when their first paperbacks appeared,it was synonymous with fast-paced thrillers of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. A UK publisher from 1930s to 1960s.Thomas Volney Boardman founded his London-based company Boardman Books (a.k.a T. V. Boardman Ltd.) in the 1930s and was responsible for first British hardcover printings of Rbt. E. Howard's 'The Coming of Conan.' as well as introducing several American newspaper strips into the UK,thereby pioneering British reprinting of US comics. During WW2, British import restrictions prevented US comics being officially imported,but Boardman arranged permission to to produce abridged British printings of a couPle of US comic titles.After the war they produced new titles through their Popular Press imprint, starring amongst others space hero Swift Morgan and secret agent Roy Carson,as well as annuals 'Buffalo Bill True West',1961 and the last annual the company produced being one example. The company stopped producing comics in 1961 and finally finished publishing in 1967.It published paperback, hardcover books,pulp magazines,and comic books,and besides mystery,fantasy and sci-fi,the company also published other genres of both fiction and non- fiction. Particularly well-known for the long-running monthly series of hardback 'Bloodhound Mysteries with it's distinctive logo,and most with Denis McLoughhlin illustrated dw/djs.
Please contact seller @ rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,because of the lighter weight of this item for correct shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas customers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! N.B. ALL buyers please note,p/backs' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order receipt and before order's despatch,especially if p/back is offered P/p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/CANADA customers please be aware: Standard AIR postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. 2/3rds of standard US AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving long before the quoted 42 days - but not always. **